Month: May 2009

Categories
life Sport

Pinch’o’Crow Rendezvous 2009

May 15-18, 2009

Club info for the Pinch’o’Crow Rendezvous 2009.

This Victoria Day long weekend I’ll be headed to Pincher Creek for some kayaking adventures at the annual Pinch’o’Crow Rendezvous. Organizer, Chuck Lee, and his crew of volunteers put on a great event each year with all sorts of river runs and clinics available for paddlers of all levels.

The Pinch-o-Crow Creekers are hosting the 11th annual WW Rendezvous on May 15-16-17-18, 2009 again this year down in the “Centre of Adventure”. We will be organizing and leading trips on the Castle, Crowsnest and Oldman Rivers. There will also be chances to go paddle Cameron Creek and the Carbondale, Elk, Wigwam, Highwood, Waterton or Belly Rivers while you are down here. Only three days and too many rivers to paddle.

The range of rivers is from class I-II to III-V (but it’s not too difficult to portage around class 5 waterfalls). Speaking of water falls, every year there are a few kayakers that put on quite a show running Lundbreck Falls.

Here’s a photo of me running it last June:

JUNE 14, 2008 — LUNDBRECK, AB Jeff Milner takes the plunge over the 36 foot drop of Lundbreck Falls. Taken with a Canon EOS Digital Rebel XTi by Tom Buchanan. Used with permission.

Categories
animation

Princess and the Frog Trailer

Disney has released the trailer for its newest full length feature animation, The Princess and the Frog. It will be the animation studio’s 49th animated feature and the first traditional animation feature since Home on the Range — my least favorite Disney animation of all time. I’m hoping things have improved…


[Princess and the Frog Trailer – YouTube]

The new movie will add to Disney’s profitable princess franchise, and, more importantly, with directors John Musker and Ron Clements at the helm, I suspect it will have the kind craftsmanship and story that will make it worthy to become part of the Disney Classics canon.

Ron and John’s directing credits include: The Great Mouse Detective, The Little Mermaid, Aladdin, Hercules, and Treasure Planet. These guys have worked with the masters and, of course, are masters in their own right.

The Animation Podcast has a great interview with Ron and John in three parts.

Categories
Science

White blood cell chasing a bacterium

Neutrophil granulocytes, generally referred to as neutrophils, are the most abundant type of white blood cells in humans and form an essential part of the immune system. Watch as this crawling Neutrophil chases down a bacterium in this short video from the 1950s.


[Crawling Neutrophil Chasing a Bacterium – YouTube]

How does it know how to track things? It’s amazing to think this kind of activity is happening inside our bodies all the time.

Continue reading “White blood cell chasing a bacterium”
Categories
Art humor

Play Him Off, Keyboard Cat

Life is a stage. Sometimes we fail on stage—luckily keyboard cat is there to play us off.

http://playhimoffkeyboardcat.com/

(via)

Categories
bad review revue

The Bad Review Revue

X-Men Origins: Wolverine: “It is Hugh Jackman’s misfortune that when they were handing out superheroes, he got Wolverine, who is for my money low on the charisma list. He never says anything witty, insightful or very intelligent; his utterances are limited to the vocalization of primitive forces: anger, hurt, vengeance, love, hate, determination. There isn’t a speck of ambiguity. That Wolverine has been voted the No. 1 comic hero of all time must be the result of a stuffed ballot box.” – Roger Ebert, Chicago Sun-Times

Ghosts of Girlfriends Past: “Above all, it will make you long for a day when studio movies about relationships feel like they are by and for adults who have actually been in one.” – Melissa Anderson, Village Voice

Obsessed: “I don’t mind that Obsessed, is mindless, overheated, undercooked trash. I mind that it’s boring mindless, overheated, undercooked trash.” – Ken Hanke, Mountain Xpress

17 Again: “If you ever wondered what the High School Musical series would have been like without Zac Efron’s bad singing you have your answer in 17 Again” – Michelle Alexandria, Eclipse Magazine

The Soloist: “Just because The Soloist is about a homeless person doesn’t mean it should have pedestrian direction. But it does — pedestrian and clodhopping. …

What is remarkable is that Jamie Foxx and Robert Downey, Jr escape with their talent intact. They are the only reason to see The Soloist. They are sweet in a sour movie.” – Tony Macklin, tonymacklin.net

Categories
movie

The Hunt for Gollum

I, for one, am really looking forward to the Peter Jackson-Guillermo del Toro two-part film based on The Hobbit, but in the meantime fans of Middle-earth have taken it upon themselves to create a prequel of their own, with The Hunt for Gollum.

The 40-minute film based on JRR Tolkien’s appendices to The Lord of the Rings fills in some of the untold events that befell between the end of The Hobbit (with Bilbo having unwittingly carried off the One Ring from its then ‘owner’, Gollum) and the beginning of the saga of the War of the Ring as recounted in The Fellowship of the Ring.

What is most amazing is that the filmmakers have managed to produce their film for a mere $5000.

“The Hunt For Gollum is an unofficial non-profit film made for private use, and is not intended for sales of any sort. No money is being made from this film, and no one was paid to make it.”

The Hunt for Gollum is easily the highest quality fan movie I’ve ever seen. Lord of the Rings fans will love the incredible 40 minutes, as it depicts Strider’s adventure in gathering clues about the coming horde by tracking down Gollum. Almost as if pulled from cut scenes out of the Peter Jackson trilogy, if you’re a fan, you’ll probably not want to miss this.

Here’s the trailer movie:

I’d like to see them make one about the cleansing of the shire, but in the meantime, you can watch The Hunt for Gollum online (for free) right now.